Making History: How Great Historians Interpret the Past

De: Allen C. Guelzo, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Allen C. Guelzo

How do historians create their histories? What role do the historian's viewpoint and method play in what we accept as truth? Answer these and other questions as you go inside the minds of our greatest historians and explore the idea of written history as it has shaped humanity's story over 2,000 years.

These 24 intriguing lectures introduce you to the seminal thinking of historians such as: Herodotus, considered by many the first history writer, who replaced the poetic imagination of Homer with istorieis, or inquiry; Livy, the author of a 142-volume didactic history of Rome that spanned three continents and seven centuries; David Hume, who framed English history with an evolutionary vision of economic, political, and intellectual freedom; and Edward Gibbon, whose monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire forged a complex picture of epic collapse and decay.

From the dramatic and military exploits of Xenophon and Thucydides in ancient Greece to Macaulay's dynamic career in the 19th century, from the bloody era of Christian Reformation to the revolutions of the Enlightenment, Professor Guelzo takes you into the trenches with great minds throughout history.

And beneath the surface of written history, you'll examine the processes that create accepted views of historical events, and you'll uncover the ways in which understanding how history is written is crucial to understanding historical events themselves. The journey rewards you with an unforgettable insight into our human heritage and the chance to look with discerning eyes at human events in their deeper meanings.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great Courses

A truly fantastic exploration

I am on my second listen-through of Making History. I find Guelzo's format and presentation style totally engaging. I highly recommend this book.

Good Foundation for Understanding History

It was interesting learning about different historians and how their perspective determined what they wrote about.

Dr. (?) Guelzo did an excellent job in presentation style. But, as the series went on, things got a little more muddled (or at least more difficult to follow along while paying casual attention) with names popping in and out. Also, I never felt satisfied if we answered the Three Questions asked in the very beginning.

I feel like I will recall this series many times throughout my life as a reminder to not be overally dogmatic nor post-modern in my study of history.

Most Important Lecture for Future Historians

Making History: How Great Historians Interpret the Past is a lecture that teaches the Historian's Craft. Here you will learn how historians wrote and studied the past. From the Ancient World to today, you will be introduced to the most important historians and learn how to write the past, using or discarding their techniques within your own writing. It emphasizes how a historian's interpretation transformed throughout time. To narrow the study down, Professor Allen Guelzo introduces future historians to each major historian throughout the craft. Beginning with Herodotus, Guelzo answers the overall question "How do historians write the past?"

Using several different tones, Guelzo delivers an entertaining lecture on Historiography. He expresses the importance of studying the craft and the techniques that past historians used when they wrote history. Furthermore, he uses proper language accents and themes to describe each historian's culture and what influenced them to write history. As a historian with a Master of Arts History Degree, I find that Guelzo's Historiography lecture was far the best one that I ever heard. If you are struggling in your own Historiography class, you need to invest in this lecture. It will change your whole perspective and make it easier studying the "boring" Historical Theory of what we call Historiography.

Superb in every possible way.

As entertaining as it is enlightening. My favorite of all The Great Courses. It has really made me THINK. My synapses are on fire.

P.S. If the delivery seems too theatrical for some, please know that Guelzo is FAMOUS for his fabulous oratory, Don't allow what some perceive as "pomp" to outweigh his circumstance. The man is brilliant. Just sit back and ENJOY him. (BTW, the "wry remarks" another reviewer found irritating actually made me laugh out loud.)

Best Narrator I've ever heard

Great enthusiastic narrator. Content is top quality as usual from the great courses, but I came here to write a review in celebration of the narration specifically. Thank you great courses.